Revealed: the Gold Coast’s hidden nest of entrepreneurial indie filmmakers

Disdainful of agencies, game for anything, addicted to genre, enthralled by risk, true indie filmmakers are hard to hunt and study. Until now, on the Gold Coast, disguised as simple business folk.

Though agencies do surveys, focus groups and advisory committees, it is pretty rare to find a properly run study of the independent screen community. Here is a report commissioned by the Gold Coast City Council which enlists the Queensland University of Technology’s Digital Media Research Centre to do just that. 

The council wanted to understand the ecology of screen makers living locally or in the region; it was interested in any form of production which didn’t occur through the studios. This double-local focus allowed it to cover everything from wedding videos, to web series, VR, backyard horror films and international cult flicks. 

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David Tiley was the Editor of Screenhub from 2005 until he became Content Lead for Film in 2021 with a special interest in policy. He is a writer in screen media with a long career in educational programs, documentary, and government funding, with a side order in script editing. He values curiosity, humour and objectivity in support of Australian visions and the art of storytelling.